SoSe 2005 T2 Elektrodynamik

Blatt Zustzliche Aufgaben und Erlutuna a gen zum Thema: Greens Function

Basic idea behind Greens functions Greens functions help to solve linear dierential equations with boundary conditions, such as d2 2 + 0 f (t) = g(t), dt2 f (t ) = 0, or 2 2 + 2 2 x y f (x, y) = g (x, y) , (3) (4) (1) (2)

f (x, y)|x2 +y2 =R2 = h(x, y),

where g and h are known functions and f is the unknown function. Such equations can be symbolically written as Lf (x) = g(x), (5)

where L denotes a dierential operator. The boundary conditions can be symbolically written as f (x)|xB = h(x), (6) where B denotes the boundary surface (which might be either a nite surface or an imaginary surface at innity). It is tempting to write the solution as f (x) = L1 g(x), (7)

where L1 is the inverse operator to L, as if L were a matrix and f and g were vectors. Indeed, the method of Greens functions consists of nding the precise form of the inverse operator for Eq. (7). For example, consider the Poisson equation with zero boundary conditions at innity, 2 2 2 + 2+ 2 x2 y z f (x, y, z) = g(x, y, z), f |x,y,z 0. The solution can be written as f (x, y, z) = 1 4 1 g (x ) dx dy dz . |x x | (10) (8) (9)

 In other words, the inverse operator L1 in this case is the operator of integration with a certain function, namely with G(x, x ) = 1 1 , 4 |x x | (11)

over the entire space (d3 x ), so we can symbolically rewrite Eq. (10) as f = L1 g = G(x, x )g (x ) d3 x . (12)

In general, we expect a formula like this to work for any dierential equation. The function G(x, x ) is called the Greens function of that dierential equation. Interpretation In electrostatics, Eq. (8) is interpreted as the equation for the electrostatic potential (x) = f (x) and the function g(x) describes the charge density, g(x) 4(x). Then the Greens function (11) can be interpreted as the elec1 trostatic potential due to one point charge of magnitude q = 4 located at the point x , that is, G(x, x ) is the solution of the Poisson equation with a delta-function source, 2 2 2 + 2+ 2 2 x y z G (x, y, z; x , y , z ) = (x x )(y y )(z z ), (13) (14)

G (x, y, z; x , y , z )|x,y,z 0. Why the formula (10) works

The actual charge distribution (x) can be thought of as a superposition of many point charges, for example g(x) = 4(x )(x x )d3 x . (15)

By the superposition principle, the electrostatic potential due to all these charges is the sum of potentials due to each charge. (The sum is actually an integral since the charge distribution is continuous.) Therefore the formula (10) is essentially a consequence of the superposition principle and the known solution (11) for a point source. To summarize, the method of Greens functions can solve the equation Lf (x) = g(x), f (x)|xB = 0, (16)

by the following steps: (1) determine the suitable Greens function G(x, x ) by solving the equation LG(x, x ) = (x x ), G(x, x )|xB = 0, (17)

and (2) integrate the Greens function multiplied by the given source function g(x ), f (x) = G(x, x )g(x )d3 x . (18)

Note that Eq. (17) is a dierential equation with derivatives and boundary conditions only in x but not in x ; the value of x is a parameter and this equation needs to be solved for all x . If we are unable to nd an explicit solution of Eq. (17) for arbitrary value of x , then we cannot nd the Greens function and the method cannot be used. However, if we have an explicit solution of Eq. (17), then in principle we have solved all inhomogeneous equations. Inhomogeneous boundary conditions So far we have looked at equations Lf (x) = g(x) (19)

with homogeneous boundary conditions, i.e. boundary conditions which we can symbolically write as f (x)|xB = 0, (20) where B stands for the boundary surface (which may be nite or innitely remote). Note that we cannot use the superposition principle in the above form unless the boundary conditions are homogeneous. To solve equations with inhomogeneous boundary conditions, f (x)|xB = h(x), (21)

where h(x) = 0, the Greens function method needs to be modied because the formulae (17)-(18) do not work in this case. To understand how to modify the Greens function method, let us rst look at the superposition of solutions f1 (x) and f2 (x) of such equations. We can symbolically write these equations as Lf1 = g1 , Lf2 = g2 , f1 |B = h1 , f2 |B = h2 , (22) (23)

and consider the function f (x) = f1 (x) + f2 (x) which is the superposition of f1 and f2 . It is easy to see that f (x) satises the equation Lf = g1 + g2 , f |B = h1 + h2 , (24)

in other words, the boundary conditions are superimposed as well. When the boundary conditions are homogeneous, i.e. h1 = h2 = 0, their superposition yields again the homogeneous boundary condition. But in the present case it would be incorrect to dene an inhomogeneous Greens function by the equations LG(x, x ) = (x x ), G(x, x )|xB = h(x), (25)

because then the formula (18) will not yield a solution of Eqs. (19)-(21) but rather a solution of Lf (x) = g(x), f (x)|xB = h(x) g(x )d3 x , (26)

which is an equation with the correct source g(x) but with wrong boundary conditions. This is why the old formula does not work. It follows that the solution f (x) of Eqs. (19)-(21) can be expressed as a superposition of two solutions, f (x) = f1 (x) + f2 (x), Lf1 (x) = g(x), f1 |xB = 0, Lf2 (x) = 0, f2 | = h(x).
xB

(27) (28) (29)

The function f1 (x) can be expressed as before through the Greens function with homogeneous boundary conditions: f1 (x) = G(x, x )g(x )d3 x . (30)

However, to express the function f2 (x) we need a dierent boundary-value Greens function GB (x, x ), satisfying the equations LGB (x, x ) = 0, GB (x, x )|xB = (x x ), (31)

and then we have to add the contributions of the boundary source h(x) which yields a two-dimensional integral over the boundary, f2 (x) =
x B

GB (x, x )h(x )d2 x .

(32)

Therefore the solution of Eqs. (19)-(21) can be written as f (x) = G(x, x )g(x )d3 x +
x B

GB (x, x )h(x )d2 x .

(33)

Sometimes the boundary condition is imposed on the derivative of the function in the direction normal to the boundary, f (x) n = l(x),
xB

(34)

where l(x) is a known function; this is called the von Neumann boundary condition (the previous case, Eq. (21), is called the Dirichlet boundary condition). In this case one needs yet another Greens function GN (x, x ) which is a solution of LGN (x, x ) = 0, GN (x, x ) = (x x ), (35) n xB

and then we have f (x) = G(x, x )g(x )d3 x +

x B

GN (x, x )l(x )d2 x .

(36)

Suppose that the boundary conditions are mixed, i.e. Dirichlet for some part B1 of the boundary and von Neumann for the other part B2 of the boundary, i.e. f (x) f (x)|xB1 = h(x), = l(x), (37) n xB2 Then the solution f (x) can be expressed as follows, f (x) = +
x B2

G(x, x )g(x )d3 x +

x B1

GB (x, x )h(x )d2 x

(38) (39)

GN (x, x )l(x )d3 x .

In general, we thus need three dierent Greens functions to solve the inhomogeneous boundary-value problem. However, the boundary-value Greens functions for the Poisson equation can be expressed through the usual Greens function G(x, x ), namely GB (x, x ) = G(x, x ), n GN (x, x ) = G(x, x ). (40)

(The derivation of these relations can be found in most textbooks.) Therefore, we only need to compute the usual Greens function for homogeneous boundary conditions to solve arbitrary boundary-value problems in electrostatics. (We still need dierent Greens functions for each possible shape of the boundary surface! And we have explicit Greens functions only for simple boundary surfaces, such as planes, cylinders, or spheres. For more complicated boundary surfaces, Greens functions cannot be found analytically and must be calculated numerically on a computer.)

8.1

Greensche Funktion fur Wellengleichung

2 c2 t2

Leiten Sie die Greensche Funktion der 3-dimensionalen Wellengleichung, x G(t, x, t , x ) = (t t )(x x ) (41)

her. Die Greensche Funktion solle die Bedingung G(t, x, t , x ) = 0 fr t < t . u (42)

erfllen, d.h. eine Strung an der Zeit t soll keine Auswirkung zu frhere Zeiten u o u haben.

Hinweis: Die Lsung durch die Fourier-Transformation ist mglich aber eto o was lang, wenn man die Greensche Funktion der Helmholtz-Gleichung schon nicht als bekannt nimmt. Ich empfehle also die folgenden Schritten: (a) Aus geeigneter Symmetrieberlegung beschlieen, da G(t, x, t , x ) = u G(, r), wobei t t und r |x x | ist. (b) Durch Integration in Kugelkoordinaten beweisen, da (x x ) = (c) Die Variablen wechseln, u r c, v r + c, g(u, v) rG(t, r), (44) 1 (r). 2r (43)

und Gl. (41) erst in Kugelkoordinaten und dann als 2 g(u, v) c = (v)(u v) uv 4 umschreiben. (d) Jetzt Gl. (45) integrieren, also 2 g(u, v) = f (u, v) g(u, v) = uv
u v

(45)

du
u0 v0

dv f (u, v).

(46)

Die Integrationskonstanten u0 , v0 mssen so gewhlt werden, da die Randbeu a dingung (42) erfllt ist. u Die endgltige Antwort heit u G(, r) = c c ( )(r c ) = (r c ), 4r 4r (47)

wobei (x) die Heavisidesche Theta-Funktion ist und ( ) = 1 wenn > 0. Beachten Sie auch, da
x

(x) =

(x)dx;

d (x) = (x). dx

(48)

8.2

Dipolstrahlung

Berechnen Sie das Feld eines elektrischen Dipols mit zeitabhngigem Dipolmoa ment p(t) = p0 cos t im Koordinatenursprung. Damit: (a) Die Ladungsverteilung eines Dipols ist mit (t, x) = (p )(x) (49)

deniert. Berechnen Sie aus Kontinuittsgleichung a 1 + divj = 0 c t (50)

die entsprechende Stromdichte j(t, x). (b) Berechnen Sie mittels Greenscher Funktion aus Aufg. 8.1 die Potentiale (t, x) = 4 A(t, x) = 4 c dt dx (t , x )G(t, x, t , x ), dt dx j(t , x )G(t, x, t , x ). (51) (52)

(c) Berechnen Sie die Felder E(t, x) = B(t, x) = A. 1 A , c t (53) (54)

8.3

Spiegelung der Strahlung

(a) Betrachten Sie das EM-Feld in Anwesenheit einer supraleitender Ebene z = 0. An der Ebene, die induzierten Strme und Ladungen sind genau so, da o das EM-Feld innerhalb des Supraleiters (z < 0) verschwindet. Geben Sie die Greensche Funktion G(t, x, t , x ) an, die diesen Randbedingunden entspricht. (Hinweis: Spiegelmethode!) (b) Berechnen Sie das EM-Feld eines oszillierenden Dipols (aus Aufg. 8.2) an der Stelle (x, y, z) = (0, 0, h), wobei h > 0.